This invention relates generally to a device for carrying and dispensing golf clubs. According to this invention, a carrier provides a closed cylindrical container for the clubs and has a hinged side door through which a selectable one of several clubs inside the container may be withdrawn and replaced with ease. A rotary dispenser frame is coaxially mounted within the totally enclosed container and has tubular receptacles for receiving and supporting the depending ends of the club handles. During the course of play, a golfer may obtain a desired club from the container by rotating the frame until the selected club comes into angular alignment with the side door, then opening the door and withdrawing the club. Upon completion of the shot, the club is inserted back through the door in a handle-down attitude into its assigned receptacle on the dispenser and the door is closed.
The several advantages afforded by a rotary club dispenser device over conventional club bags and club carts are well known and are adequately recited in prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,806,711 to Jacobs, 2,890,061 Watson, 3,425,708 Sato, 4,111,248 Leichhardt, 4,245,684 Street and 4,673,082 Hemme, among others.
Jacobs, Watson and Sato disclose wheeled golf carts having a variety of rotary club dispensing structures which support the clubs in a head-down position whereby the heads rest in tiered receptacles or the like. Over time, removal and insertion of the club heads relative to these prior art receptacles is likely to damage or degrade the club heads due to wear and repeated impacting.
Leichhardt, Street and Hemme have rotary club dispensing structures which allow the individual clubs to rest on the extreme end surfaces of the handles in a heads-up position This club orientation is preferred since it should reduce the opportunity for denting, scratching or otherwise abrading highly finished club heads. However, Street fails to recognize the advantage of providing a lateral opening to his dispenser and resorts instead to awkward vertical removal and replacement of the clubs relative to the top end of his carrier. The extra lifting effort and the opportunities for club damage due to this operational shortcoming of Street are obvious
Of the several cited prior art devices, only Watson and Street show a fully enclosed club container; however, as indicated above, Watson utilizes a head-down club orientation, and Street fails to recognize the several benefits of a lateral opening for club removal and replacement.
While Liechhardt and Hemme utilize the preferred heads-up club orientation, neither recognizes the advantages afforded by housing the clubs within a closed container to protect the clubs from environmental damage on the course and from tampering or theft while in storage. Moreover, the Liechhardt and Hemme structures create certain difficulties for the golfer in replacing clubs. Liechhardt requires that a club be held handle down above the bottom of his rotary dispenser frame in precise alignment with a socket and then be inserted vertically downwardly through the socket. Moreover, the socket is shaped and sized with respect to the club handle to closely confine the handle. Therefore, unless the golfer uses great care in inserting the club and possesses visual and manual adroitness, there exists a substantial risk that the extreme end of the club will be dented, cut or otherwise damaged and that the material comprising the grip portion of the handle will suffer abrasion and rapid wear.
Hemme shows a plurality of handle-receiving cups located inside his container at the bottom of a rotary dispenser frame. The diameter of the cups is only slightly greater than that of the club handles received therein; and, the cylindrical walls of the cups extend vertically to a point only slightly above the bottom of the dispenser frame. Because the cups are small and are remotely located inside his container, Hemme finds it necessary to provide vertically extending, channel shaped guides attached to each of the cups to enable the golfer to insert the club handles into the cups. With the club head gripped by the golfer, it would not be an easy task to insert the remote end of the club handle accurately through the slot in Hemme's side wall into sliding engagement with the elongated half-cylindrical guides which are shown to be only about the same diameter as the club handle. Hemme's handle guiding channels add to the inefficiency, complexity, cost and weight of his club carrier. Moreover, the sliding contact envisioned by Hemme between the channels and the club handles can be expected to produce greatly increased wearing in the grip area of the clubs.
From the foregoing description of related prior art devices, it will be appreciated that none provides for a completely enclosed club container with a rotary dispenser having satisfactory receptacles means for efficiently receiving a club handle inserted laterally through an opening in the side of the container.